Free Date Ideas
One of the things
that works to keep relationships alive is spending
quality time with each other. In this day of the
information age, it is becoming increasingly difficult
to carve out the necessary time to nurture our
relationships. What with long work hours, helping
kids with their homework, transporting them around
to their extracurricular activities, getting dinner,
cleaning up and going through the bedtime routine,
what time is left?
Unless you orchestrate the time for your relationship,
other less important things will crowd in and
take what precious little time you do have. Pick
a night that will be “date night” with your partner
and make a game out of being as creative as you
can be. Try to see how many things you can do
without spending money.
To get you started, I’ve come up with some suggestions
to help you for the next year. What follows are
52 ideas for how to spend creative time together
without spending money. Feel free to add or modify
any of the items on the list to suit your particular
relationship and circumstances.
WINTER
1. Take a drive to look at the Christmas decorations.
2. Play cards---perhaps strip poker.
3. Watch a movie together.
4. Go outside and have a snowball fight.
5. Get some finger paints and create your own
body art with each other as your canvass.
6. Go sleigh riding.
7. Go ice skating.
8. Work out or exercise together.
9. Stage your own improvisation show.
10. Sing to each other.
11. Review or create a photo album or scrapbook
of your memories together.
12. Play a board game---perhaps chess, Scrabble
or Twister.
13. Go to a book store, get coffee and read for
hours.
SPRING
14. Work on a remodeling project together.
15. Plan and complete a yard work project together.
16. Do the spring cleaning together---room by
room. When done, reward yourself by making love
in the room you’ve cleaned.
17. Put on old clothes and mud wrestle after some
drenching rain.
18. Give each other a massage.
19. Play catch---football, baseball, softball
or Frisbee.
20. Go to a car dealer and test drive the car
of your dreams.
21. Shoot basketball together.
22. Dance together.
23. Take a shower together and wash each other---everywhere.
24. Take a free adult education class together.
25. Go to a mall and have a contest to see which
one of you can get the most free samples.
26. Go rollerblading or bike riding.
SUMMER
27. Build a campfire and roast marshmallows.
28. Go swimming or skinny dipping.
29. Give each other a manicure or pedicure.
30. Go somewhere crowded to people watch.
31. Go to a free outdoor event, perhaps a concert.
32. Lie on a blanket outside and watch the clouds
or stars.
33. Go on a picnic.
34. Watch a fireworks display.
35. Be creative and engage in sexual role plays.
Be anyone you’d like to be for the night who is
also exciting for your partner.
36. Sit by the water somewhere.
37. Do a prolonged strip tease for each other.
38. Have a water balloon fight.
39. Sit outside and read poetry to each other.
FALL
40. Go for a drive together.
41. Go window shopping.
42. Incorporate food into your love making---chocolate
syrup, whipped cream, fondue, strawberries---anything
you and your partner enjoy.
43. Call or write to someone you haven’t had contact
with in a while.
44. Cook something together.
45. Spend an evening just talking with each other.
Talk about the things you have done, plans you
have for the future, important people in your
lives or current events.
46. Take a bubble bath together.
47. Go to a free movie or museum.
48. Take a drive and find the potential in old
houses and their properties.
49. Create an imaginary story together---either
orally or in written form.
50. Take turns being each other’s genie in a bottle
by fulfilling your partner’s every wish and fantasy.
51. Play in the fallen leaves.
52. Create an exciting scavenger hunt that ends
in your bed.
Now you have 52 suggestions for things to do with
your partner for every week of the year divided
by season. Certainly you don’t have to follow
my suggestions. Feel free to add your own or to
repeat your favorites as often as you’d like.
The main point is not to see how kinky you can
get. The idea is to keep your relationship alive
by making time together a priority. It is important
that you find things to do as a couple that you
can both enjoy. If you have vastly different interests
then you can enter this with the spirit of taking
turns and each agree to happily participate in
the activity chosen by the one whose turn it is
that week.
As long as you make a habit of making your relationship
a priority and allocating time each week for rejuvenation
of the feelings that attracted you in the first
place, then you stand a good chance of staying
together for the long haul.
Please don’t let insidious boredom enter into
your relationship through the back door. This
is what frequently happens when we are busy placing
other things ahead of our time for each other.
You know what I mean---the job, the kids, our
friend in crisis, etc. There will always be a
competing interest for the time you’ve set aside
for each other.
Other than natural disasters, threat of death
or major crises, do not allow your time together
to be invaded by any outside forces. Make sure
to create opportunities for you to do things together
without outside influence. With more than 50%
of today’s marriages ending in divorce, make this
small investment in the longevity of your relationship.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
What’s stopping you? Start today.
Kim Olver is a licensed professional counselor
and a life/relationship coach. She helps people
unleash their personal power by living from the
inside out, focusing their time and energy on
only those things they can control. She also helps
people improve the quality of their relationships
with the important people in their lives. She
offers free chats, assessments, a blog and an
eZine, as well as workshops, teleclasses, e-courses,
counseling and coaching. Visit her website at
www.TheRelationshipCenter.biz
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